AMLS Mosport: Disappointing Race For Porsche Teams

The detour of the American Le Mans Series to Canada was not rewarded with success for the Porsche teams: After their second position in Lime Rock, the Porsche works drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) went home empty-handed from round four of the season on the Mosport International Raceway close to Toronto. The best-placed Porsche team was factory pilot Wolf Henzler (Germany) and America’s Bryan Sellers who secured fifth place in the GT class with the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR fielded by the Falken Tire squad.

With Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, four-time Mosport winner Joerg Bergmeister made a clean start and at times even took the lead. But during a pit stop after the halfway point in the 2:45-hour race, the #45 vehicle lost fluid from the power steering unit. Following the repairs, Patrick Long rejoined the race with a nine-lap gap to the GT front-runners to finally see the flag in twelfth place. This yielded zero points for the title defenders.

“Our car ran very well over the whole weekend,” said Joerg Bergmeister. “During my stint we were always in the top three and even had the lead. But when I tried to avoid a slower competitor, I spun, we lost the lead and then the power steering went. It was simply bad luck.” Patrick Long said: “After the pit stop we collected a lot of data but unfortunately no points.”

At his maiden race in Mosport, Porsche factory pilot Marco Holzer (Germany) took over the wheel of the second Porsche 911 GT3 RSR fielded by Flying Lizard Motorsports from his American teammate Seth Neiman while in 14th and pushed through to finish eighth. The GTC class victory went to Americans Spencer Pumpelly and Duncan Ende in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Round 5 of the American Le Mans Series takes place on 6 August in Lexington in the US state of Ohio.

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